Australia’s antitrust regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has initiated an informal review of a potential bid by France’s Lactalis for assets being divested by New Zealand-based Fonterra.

The review comes despite Lactalis not yet formally announcing an offer.

In April, Fonterra indicated that some potential buyers had progressed to the stage of seeking regulatory approvals, a standard precursor to any deal. The company first announced plans to sell or list certain non-core units in November 2024 as part of a strategy to focus on its core milk processing operations.

The ACCC’s review follows a Reuters report on Thursday (1) that several firms, including Japan’s Meiji and France’s Lactalis, were exploring bids for Fonterra’s global consumer business, Fonterra Oceania, and Fonterra Sri Lanka units.

Fonterra declined to provide further comment, referring back to its April statement. Lactalis and the ACCC also declined to comment.

A potential deal for the divested businesses could be valued at approximately 4 billion New Zealand dollars ($ 2.37 billion). Fonterra Oceania and Fonterra Sri Lanka primarily supply milk for dairy product manufacturing.

In May 2024, Fonterra disclosed that the operations under consideration for divestment accounted for roughly 19% of its operating earnings in the first half of fiscal 2024. The review process signals early regulatory scrutiny as the sale process advances.